NAIROBI · AIR
SAF mandates arrive in markets with no production capacity
Emerging-market carriers face European blending requirements they cannot meet domestically — and the cost lands on them. [وقود الطيران المستدام يجد موطئ قدم في الأسواق الناشئة.]
Compiled with AI · reviewed and signed by the desk
European sustainable aviation fuel mandates apply to departures from European airports regardless of the operator’s nationality. For African and Asian carriers flying into Europe, that means buying SAF at European prices on the outbound leg while having no domestic supply to blend at home.
The cost asymmetry is real. A European carrier absorbs the mandate across a large short-haul network with local supply developing; a long-haul carrier from a market with no refinery capacity pays spot prices on a thin route. Several African operators have raised this at ICAO as a competitiveness question rather than an environmental one.
The constructive response is domestic production, and feedstock is genuinely available — agricultural residue across East Africa, used cooking oil in dense Asian cities. What is missing is refinery capital and offtake certainty.
Our read: watch which governments underwrite offtake agreements. Without that guarantee, no SAF refinery in an emerging market reaches financial close.